Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Tajikistan and from Stockholm.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1960 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Shanghai and Shanghai.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Houston kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1973 at the first Television practice in a loft in New York.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Michael McDonald started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Sugar Minott to the punk kids.
I played it at the Spitz.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Parry Music. All the underground hits.
All Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Spoonie Gee record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal techno hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a guitar and a synthesizer and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Ohio Players record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Hot Snakes,
The Music Machine,
The Gun Club,
Fela Kuti,
Pere Ubu,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Fall,
Organ,
Royal Trux,
Danielle Patucci,
Thompson Twins,
Quadrant,
Ponytail,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Audionom,
Ultimate Spinach,
Lungfish,
Ice-T,
Donny Hathaway,
Mantronix,
Prince Buster,
James White and The Blacks,
Heaven 17,
Lightning Bolt,
Zero Boys,
Dennis Brown,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Bush Tetras,
Vladislav Delay,
The Gap Band,
Lakeside,
Todd Terry,
The Slackers,
Amon Düül,
The Associates,
a-ha,
Black Bananas,
Cabaret Voltaire,
X-Ray Spex,
Camouflage,
Grandmaster Flash,
Subhumans,
Boredoms,
Drexciya,
Thee Headcoats,
KRS-One,
Pylon,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
The Mummies,
Black Flag,
Pussy Galore,
The Dave Clark Five,
Don Cherry,
Mo-Dettes,
Hoover,
Liaisons Dangereuses,
Tubeway Army,
Gerry Rafferty,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
Soul II Soul,
Lyres,
Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young, Neil Young.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.